Corning is a company that has its fingers into all sorts of products. Perhaps one of the products the company is best known for in the tech world is the Gorilla Glass that covers the LCD panels of many smartphones and tablets on the market.

Corning and Samsung have jointly operated Samsung Corning Precision Materials Co. Limited (SCP) – which manufactures LCD glass in South Korea -- with Samsung Display having ownership of 43 percent. With today’s announcement, Corning will assume full ownership of SCP.

The deal will net Samsung $1.9 billion in Corning convertible preferred shares, giving it 7.4% ownership in Corning if converted.

“The agreements provide important financial and strategic benefits to both Corning and Samsung,” said Wendell P. Weeks, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Corning.

“We look forward to concentrating our efforts and combining our expertise in product development with Corning’s renowned leadership in glass technologies to develop new market opportunities in consumer products and other industries,” added Kinam Kim, president and chief executive officer of Samsung Display.

The deal also brings with it a long-term LCD display glass supply agreement between Corning and Samsung Display that will run through 2023. Corning's board also authorized an additional $2 billion in share repurchases throughout December 31, 2015.

Samsung owned 43% of Samsung Corning, a joint venture between Samsung and Corning.

Samsung have given their 43% share of SamCorn to Corning. In return Corning have given Samsung $1.9b in convertible preferred shares.These can be converted into actual shares of Corning, or would likely be repaid on expiry by Corning.Samsung also invested $400m in Corning.

If Samsung converts the shares + additional investment, it would own 7.4% of Corning.If it does convert, then Corning will purchase $2b of shares between now and December 2015, meaning that current shareholders are not diluted in their ownership ($1.9b new shares to Samsung, $2b shares repurchased from the market, total shares remains about the same).

The point is that Samsung is making a play to control the market for the glass used in smart phones and tablets. You don't really expect them to stop at 7% do you? Give them a few more years and they will own 50.1% of the company and be able to cut off Apples supply of gorilla glass. That means that Apple will be forced to find an alternative and there simply isnt an alternative available. Since Corning owns the patents that affect Apple, the only option Apple will have is to use glass that breaks easily or develop something like transparent aluminum.

Its a pretty smart move on their part and its a way for them to force Apple to stop the idiotic patent trolling that they have been doing for the last 10 years or so.

It makes corning a 10 billion a year company. I don't think a 7.4% stake holds much water in determining the supply of glass or in South Korea. I do think it is a shot across the bow of apple on sapphire display covers however.

What about sapphire glass. It's suppose to be harder than gorilla glass. It already has made it to main stream. The button for the new 5s is supposedly sapphire. Maybe Samsung is trying to get on the ground level of that also. Really stick it to Apple.

quote: "Sapphire's performance as a cover for high-end watches probably leads to the current speculation. But those covers are much smaller than a mobile phone and are two to three times thicker than Gorilla Glass. In one of our commonly accepted strength tests, sapphire breaks more easily than Gorilla Glass after the same simulated use. Additionally, sapphire’s cost and environmental hit are huge issues."

quote: Apple recently filed a patent for a fusion process that will add sapphire laminate layer to future iPhones, iPads and potentially the iWatch. The process of laminating a piece of glass with sapphire would be cheaper than a 100% sapphire screen at current market prices.

My sapphire watch crystal is nearly 1/2 the thickness of a modern phone. Make it any thinner and it'll be too easy to shatter. Keep it that thick and we're back to 11mm phones that will end up weighing 1/2 a pound. And don't forget that 2mm thick sapphire crystals are strong enough to cover a 40-45mm watch dial, and it probably needs to be thicker to be suspended over a 4-5" screen.

No, I'm afraid Gorilla Glass is where it's at right now, for better or for worse. If Samsung wanted to restrict supply of Gorilla Glass to other companies, then everyone (LG, Moto, HTC - not just Apple) would be relegated to 2nd class manufacturers.